In her own time

I sit and watch my baby play. She is 19 months going on 2 years. She is a tornado. But there are a few things she needs to wrap up before moving on. She would like to figure out what the remote control is all about. She wants to run in the grass and eat more ice cream. I have a list too, it includes Evy's hands. Do not get me wrong. She can use both hand equally well. She can pick up a speck of fluff, inspect it, and then eat it with each. Right now she is scooping 3 inch disks out of her toy CD player. She is using both hands to scoop. One disk with her right, one disk with her left.

And yet I worry. I worry because she is not using both hands to scoop out one disk. Evy is smart enough to discover that one hand stabilizing the CD player and one hand scooping is a faster way to get the disks. She is smart enough and yet she does not do this. Why? She lacks the coordination to control the process. Even her scoops are thick-handed. My poor little one. I fear when we hit these hurdles that she will not clear them. Yet she always does. And so I will wait. And worry a little.

I can do it myself! By Evelyn Forrester

When I wake up in the morning my mommy gets me dressed. Then we go upstairs to eat breakfast. She tries to carry me up the stairs. I kick and cry as if to say, "Put me down. I can do it myself!"



For breakfast mommy makes me my favorite food, cheesy waffle. She cooks it and cuts it and tries to feed me. I push her hand away. No thanks mom, I can feed myself!



After eating we go in the living room to play. Mommy tries to show me how to sit and play on my new chair. I quickly stand up. I will play with it myself!



I smile at mommy. She smiles back. She looks tired and it is not even nap time. Boy oh boy mom is lucky she has me to help her out. After all, I can do it myself!

Cute post

Ok I admit it. I am a computer dummy. Our old computer, the one with all the pics on its hard drive, has died. Of course I have taken lots more pics recently but I have not been trained on how to upload them to this new computer (yes I need training, hence the dummy comment). So I have no pics to attach to this post. Too bad because there are good ones.

There are some super cute pics of Evy and her NICU buddy Edna. Edna is a 27 weeker born one week after Evelyn. This is Edna's first Christmas out of the hospital. In celebration we dressed the girls up in matching BFF shirts and took their picture sitting amongst the presents under the Christmas tree. They are truly precious gifts. Truly cute.

Another great gift is chocolate and there is a yummy picture of Evy helping mommy make peanut clusters for the family Christmas party. Evy was not sure she liked dipping chocolate when I put a dallop of it on her high chair tray. It was sticky and she tried to shake it off her fingers. But then she tasted it and... the picture says it all. Super cute.

Well I will end this post by not describing more pics but by inviting you to watch the funny video Nate posted. In it Evy chases her own image around the room. Very cute.

Lastly, to all the followers of Extreme Evy. We wish you blessed with health and happiness, as we have been. Merry Christmas.

Leading the pack

As you can see from the pic, Evy lives in a house with four dogs, also one cat (not pictured). She calls all the dogs iggie, and the cat kia.

A typical morning starts with her sucking loudly on her thumb. Then comes, "mom...mom...mom...". I get her from the crib and she looks around for the shepard whom has taken Nate's spot on the bed. She waves her hands and says, "Hi Iggie, Hi Iggie!". We go out to the living room where she finds the husky and kitty, usually sleeping side by side. She waves her hands and says, "Hi Iggie, Hi Kia. Hi Kia, Hi Iggie". Then we go into the kitchen for breakfast. She see the rottie, "Hi Iggie, Hi Iggie!". Evy drops food as she eats. With each piece she stares at the floor. Soon the wienie dog comes to clean up. "Hi Iggie, Hi Iggie!" she says waving her hands about. Grandma appears. Evy may give her a smile between bites, but not always. When Evy and the wienie dog have finished her breakfast she will bang on her try and say "mom...mom...mom...". This is a typical start to the day.



Evy loves her pets. She looks for them in every room. She is always excited to see them. They have been her motivation, her passion, her muse. Because of them she has learned how to lick, crawl, stand, share, and how to pet, not pull, soft fur. The dogs know that she is the boss. But they are always free to leave when they tire of her attention. This has led to another lesson. Evelyn has not quit figured why the dogs sometimes flee in mass when she crawls in their direction. She turns to me with a long face as if to say, "Why?". I shrug and tell her that they will come around when they want their ears pulled. And indeed they do. By not pushing the relationships, just letting them develop (with supervision and rules) each and every pet comes to Evy to get their needs met. The wienie dog relies on the food she drops. The shepard knows she is always interested in playing with his ball. The husky and cat each know Evy will always pay attention, and the good ol' rottie is full of kisses to share. Evy never turns them away.

So this Thanksgiving I am giving thanks to my pack. To the big grumpy one I send to work with a sandwich and a handful of nicotine gum. To the littlest one; whom calls me mom. To the wise ones; who give me help and advise. And especially to the furry ones; the devoted ones. Thank You.

What a weekend...what a year.

Boy what a crappy weekend for the sports teams we root for. The Utes were trounced by TCU. Also, the Arizona Wildcats, Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, and New England Patriots all had a chance to win but lost their games over the weekend. It is the kind of time you'd like to forget. But this weekend will be remembered. This weekend was our anniversary, not the wedding anniversary, but our family anniversary. One year ago Sunday we brought Evelyn home from the hospital. And what a year it has been. Evelyn has grown from not-quit-a-newborn into not-quit-a toddler. Nate has stopped smoking. The dogs and cat have survived with all their tails and ears intact. And I, well I am loving being a mom. Below are some pics from the previous year. Enjoy.

Let's hope year #2 is as grand.

Taking a stand

First of all Evy and I went on our first road trip last week. My sister Sandy came into town from Texas and she took my mom, our other three sisters, myself, and Evy on a day trip to Moab. Yes we drove four hours each way to spend a few hours visiting with friends and family there. Overall Evy did well and it made me hopeful that she will be ready for a family vacation next summer. Evy was somewhat unimpressed with the natural beauty Moab has to offer, but she did have a great time hearing how cute she is. Also, she loved Berdine's famous pinto beans. Yummy!


Evy sits on the trail up the the King and Queen thrones.
A great place from my childhood.


The view of Moab from our resting place on the trail.



Evy sits in her great-grandpa Day's wheel barrel.

Evy also has exciting news to share. She now has enough hair to fashion into a do. See the pic below.


Really this bow is clipped to hair.

Lastly, Evelyn has taken a stand against the need to crawl. Let me update you to the fact that Evy can crawl. She will go hand-knee, hand-knee accross the floor. But there are just four things that motivate her to do this. Dog ears, dog toys, cat's tail, and the remote. Unless you dangle one of these things in front of her she will not crawl. What she does do is skooch backwards until she can prop herself into a downward-dog, or stink bug position. Hands planted in front, legs straight, butt in the air. She has done this ever since she played with Shayla and saw her do it to stand and walk away. Evy really wants to walk. So much so this is how we found her on Sunday after her nap.


"See Shayla, I can do it too!"

Lightning in a bottle

Let me start by saying that having a mobile baby keeps you busy. I turn my back and she is rolling in the garbage and chewing on shoes. I am not even going to mention the dog toys. Yuck! But this is not what has stopped me from posting. I have not posted because I need to amend the last one, and I have not wanted to do so.

Evelyn has caught lightning in a bottle several times in her short life. She will do something once, or for a short time and then not do it again. In fact sometimes she really struggles to repeat the action. For example, when she was in the NICU she could mimic the facial expression for and say the sound oooooo.



Yet soon after she started, she stopped and to this day she has not said it again. In fact, she only sings the EIEI part of EIEIO.

And so it is no big surprised that Evelyn has not crawled again. Not a surprised, but a bit of a disappointment. Of course not crawling has not stopped from getting around. She rolls, turns, and stretches herself into lots of trouble. In fact right now she has found a dog toy and is waving it around trying to catch the dogs attention. Oh yeah I was not going to mention the dog toys. Sorry.

Her not crawling is not for lack of trying. She has all the movements but not the coordination. It is as if she is on a sheet of ice. Her attempts always end with her crashing and bumping her head. Because of this I have put away all her hard toys until she gets stable on her knees. I just don't know what else to do. I have tried everything I can think of to help and I have done everything her developmental specialist has suggested. I just want to do it for her, but of course I can't. The only thing I can do is try not to worry and believe that someday soon she will crawl. I have to remember that in order for her to coordinate all the movements needed to crawl she has to make new neural pathways in her damaged cerebellum. But she is feisty, and she keeps getting up on her knees and reaching out for what she wants. That is my Evy!

Stay tuned the next crawl alert will be coming soon.